Barak's vision for 2008
Labor Party Chairman, Defense Minister Ehud Barak outlines plan for 2008 budget, says will fight for old-age pension, Holocaust survivors and rehabilitating IDF
Speaking at a Labor party convention, Barak said his party would demand improving the old-age pension, the treatment of the Holocaust survivors and rehabilitating the Israel Defense Forces.
Earlier, the Labor Party's team responsible for handling budget negotiations convented and stated that the party would insist on allocating budgets to three main areas: A reform in education, the Social Affairs Ministry and a defense establishment budget to rehabilitate the IDF following the Second Lebanon War.
"We are after an extended process of elections, which we emerged from stronger," Barak said at the meeting. "We have a goal to leave our mark on the whole state, to influence it both in political and social matters, in the area of rule of law, security and building up the IDF, in the area of lightening the burden of reserve soldiers and repaying them in a way that will show their value to the security of the state and in the struggle to drastically minimize draft-dodging. We have the ability to influence these areas and make the state more ethical and worthy."
Giving the details of his party's plans, Barak said, "We will continue to work toward strengthening the old-age budget, and older people in Israel will be able to age in dignity. We are doing this not just as a party with a large amount of pensioner voters, but as part of what we believe to be the honorable way of life for all the citizens of the state."
Barak also addressed the difficult conditions in which Holocaust survivors in Israel live and turned to MK Colette Avital, who works toward improving their conditions, and said, "I know that Colette would say that what has been achieved is not enough, and more is needed. And I feel that she will continue to work to make sure that today's achievements are only the beginning and not the end, but there is no dispute about the debt that we all owe them."
On the political plane, Barak adressed his meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday, and said that Israel had to strengthen Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Prime Minister Salam Fayyad against Hamas.
"I have expressed my position, our position, that we believe in the need, in the political arena and on all fronts, for Israeli proposals and not just foreign ones, when it comes to the advancement of diplomatic processes, and it is very important to us that we strengthen Abu Mazen (Abbas) and Fayyad, and work toward weakening Hamas," Barak said, summing up his meeting with Rice.
"It is very important to us to work towards making the everyday living conditions of the Palestinians as easy and respectable as possible. But all of this is second to one constraint that we must never ever forget: That our primary duty is to the citizens of the state, to defend them in any situation," the defense minister added.
'Court is pillar stone of democracy'
"In a modern, civilized nation, the High Court and the State comptroller's office shouldn't need to lead an ongoing campaign to protect their standing," Barak said, expressing support for the institutions in light of recent attacks on them by various government officials.
"The rule of law and the Supreme Court, in general, are the pillar stones of any functioning democracy and we need to seriously consider before making any changes to their mode of operation, in order to prevent any harm to their standing," he added.
Meanwhile, Ami Ayalon, following reports of aYedioth Aharonoth supplemental magazine expose on voter fraud during the primaries, told associates he was "not surprised."
"Nonethless," he said, "a chairman for the Labor party was chosen. His name is Ehud Barak. I stand behind him and want to make clear that, in recent years, we have chosen amongst ourselves too often. The struggles must stop."
Regarding the budget, Ayalon said that "it's prudent to be very careful when our ministers are casting their votes in the cabinet, and when our Knesset members are voting on the budget.
"We need to protect the High Court," he also said. "The Justice Minister is convinced that he is working for the cause of rule of law, but in the existing reality, we need to say clearly – we protect the standing of the High Court, despite rulings we may not have liked."
